Optical fiber connector configured with separated seat member and lens member

ABSTRACT

An optical fiber connector includes a lens member integrally forming pairs of lens at a front face thereof, a seat member assembly retained on a rear face of the lens member and fiber cables. The seat member defines slim grooves aligned with the lens and the fiber cables are received and retained in the slim grooves.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an optical fiber connector withintegral lens to refract lights.

2. Description of Related Art

As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,616 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,550, anoptical fiber connector includes an insulating seat, lens memberintegrally formed at the front end of the seat and optical fibersretained in the seat and aligned with the optical center lens. As known,the connector should use transparent material to arrive light guiding asa whole, which will limit the adapted material of the connectorsometimes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a lower cost opticalfiber connector.

In order to achieve above-mentioned object, an optical fiber connectorcomprises a lens member integrally forming pairs of lens at a front facethereof, a seat member assembly retained on a rear face of the lensmember and fiber cables. The seat member defines slim grooves alignedwith the lens and the fiber cables are received and retained in the slimgrooves.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present inventionwill become more apparent from the following detailed description of thepresent embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of an optical fiber connector of afirst embodiment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the optical fiber connector in FIG.1;

FIG. 3 is a rear exploded perspective view of the optical fiberconnector in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front exploded perspective view of the optical fiberconnector in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of an optical fiber connector of asecond embodiment; and

FIG. 6 is a rear perspective view of the optical fiber connector in FIG.5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made to the drawing figures to describe thepreferred embodiment of the present invention in detail.

Referring to FIGS. 1-4 showing an optical fiber connector 100 of a firstembodiment, the optical fiber connector 100 includes a lens member 1which is made from light guiding material and a seat member 2 made frominjection mould plastic which can be transparent materials or not. Thelens member 1 includes two pairs of truncated non-spherical lenses 10from a front face thereof and two guiding posts 11 at outer sides of thepairs of the lenses 10. A rear face 101 of the lens member 1 is of planeand defines two pairs of positioning posts 12 aligned with the guidingposts 11 and two pairs of slots 13 between the positioning posts 12 andaligned with the two pairs of the lenses 10.

The seat member 2, which may be used to be received in a cavity of ahousing of a hybrid type connector as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,794,284,is made from lower price plastics such as PLP, which has a plane frontface 201 to confront with the rear face 101 of the lens member 1. Theseat member defines two positioning recesses 22 at the front face 201thereof, which open through the top, bottom and front faces thereof. Oneinside face 221 is of vertical plane and the other inside face 222opposite to said one inside face is formed by two intersected planes.

The lens member 1 is retained in front of the seat member 2 by thepositioning posts 12 being inserted in the recesses 22. The positioningposts 12 can interfere with, or glue stick with the recesses 22.Alternatively, the positioning posts are designed to on the seat memberand the recesses on the lens member. Since the lens member 1 and theseat member 2 are separately formed, the lens member and the seat memberhave more change to select a lower price material to low cost of theconnector. Especially the seat member applies a lower price materialthan the lens member. Furthermore, it is more easy to controlmanufacturing tolerance of the lens 10.

The seat member 2 defines slim grooves 21 running through the rear facethereof which are aligned with the slots 13 to accommodate two pairs offiber cables 6 (only one is shown). The seat member 2 further definespassageways 23 a, 23 b running through the top and bottom face thereof,which are used to shape the slim grooves 21 by two molds. A pair oflatching arms 24 is defined at two sides of the seat member 2. Thelatching arms 24 extend slantwise rearwards from the seat member andspace from the seat member 1 at a rear position. The latching arm 24defines two locking portions 241, 242 at an outer side face 240 thereof.The first latching portion 241 is spacedly located in front of thesecond latching portion 242. The latching arms 24 are used to latch theoptical fiber connector in an electrical connector (not shown), such USB3.0 connector.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6 showing an optical fiber connector 200 of asecond embodiment of the present invention, the optical fiber connector200 has a seat member 32 and a lens member 31 integrally formedtogether. The connector also can be formed by separate seat member andlens member as the first embodiment. The seat member 2 defines a pair oflatching arms 4 extending rearward from outer sides thereof. Thelatching arms 4 exceed the rear face of the seat member 32. The latchingarms each define two locking portions 42, 43 at an outer side face 41thereof, the first locking portion 42 being in front of the secondlocking portion 43. The first locking portion 42 defines a front guidingface 422 and a rear locking face 421. The second locking portion 43defines a front locking face 431, an angle Q between the second lockingface 431 and the outer side face 41 is less than 90 degree to avoid theoptical fiber connector taken off an electrical connector the opticfiber connector is embedded.

However, the disclosure is illustrative only, changes may be made indetail, especially in matter of shape, size, and arrangement of partswithin the principles of the invention. Understandably, the seat memberand the lens member can be assembled with each other via other methods,e.g. gluing, adhering, clamping and second molding, etc.

1. An optical fiber connector comprising: a lens member integrallyforming pairs of lens at a front face thereof; a seat member assemblyretained on a rear face of the lens member, the seat member definingslim grooves aligned with the lens; fiber cables received and retainedin the slim grooves.
 2. The optical fiber connector as described inclaim 1, wherein the lens member is made from light guiding material andthe seat member is made from lower price material than the lens member.3. The optical fiber connector as described in claim 2, wherein one ofthe rear face of the lens and a front face of the seat memberconfronting with the rear face of the lens defines positioning posts andthe other of the rear face of the lens and the front face of the seatmember defines recesses to contain the positioning posts.
 4. The opticalfiber connector as described in claim 3, wherein the recesses eachdefine opposite first inside face and second inside face, the firstinside face is of vertical plane and the second inside face is formed bytwo intersected planes.
 5. The optical fiber connector as described inclaim 4, wherein the first inside faces of the recesses is disposed nearthe lens in relative to the second inside faces.
 6. The optical fiberconnector as described in claim 1, wherein the front face of the lensmember defines a pair of guiding posts at two opposite sides of lensesrespectively, the guiding posts project forwards beyond lenses.
 7. Theoptical fiber connector as described in claim 1, wherein the seat memberdefines a pair of latching arms at two sides thereof and the latchingarms extends rearwards beyond a rear face of the seat member.
 8. Theoptical fiber connector as described in claim 7, wherein the latchingarms each define a first locking portion projecting outward from anouter side face of the latching arm, the first locking arms has arearward-facing locking face with an angle less than 90 degree betweenthe outer side face of the latching arm.
 9. An optical fiber connectorcomprising: a lens member made from a first material and integrallyformed with a pair of lenses on a front face thereof; a seat member madefrom a second material, located behind the lens member and equipped withretention structures for being retained in a housing; and interengagingdevices formed on both said lens member and said seat member forassembling said lens member and said seat member together withoutrelative movement therebetween; wherein the first material is moreexpensive than the second material.
 10. The optical fiber connector asshown in claim 9, wherein a dimension of said seat member is larger thanthat of the lens member in a front-to-back direction.
 11. The opticalfiber connector as claimed in claim 9, wherein said seat member isequipped with a pair of fiber grooves through which a pair of opticalfibers extend into the lens member in alignment with the correspondinglenses, respectively.
 12. The optical fiber connector as claimed inclaim 11, wherein said fiber grooves are essentially fully surrounded bysaid seat member and not radially exposed to an exterior.
 13. Theoptical fiber connector as claimed in claim 9, wherein saidinterengaging devices include at least one positioning post and onepositioning recess respectively on one and the other of said lens memberand said seat member.
 14. The optical fiber connector as claimed inclaim 13, wherein said post and said recess extend in a front-to-backdirection.
 15. An optical fiber connector comprising: a lens memberunitarily equipped with a pair of lenses and corresponding fiber slots;a seat member discrete from the lens member, located behind andassembled to the lens member with relative movement therebetween; a pairof slim grooves formed in the seat member in alignment with thecorresponding slots, respectively; and a pair of optical fibersextending, from a rear side, through both the slim grooves and thecorresponding slots to join the corresponding lenses, respectively;wherein said seat member is equipped with latching structures thereonfor be received in a housing while the lens member is not.
 16. Theoptical fiber connector as claimed in claim 15, wherein the seat memberis made by material which is cheaper than that of the lens member. 17.The optical fiber connector as claimed in claim 16, wherein said seatmember is longer than the lens member in a front-to-back direction. 18.The optical fiber connector as claimed in claim 15, wherein both saidslots and said slim grooves are circumferentially surrounded by thecorresponding lens member and the seat member without radial exposure toan exterior.
 19. The optical fiber connector as claimed in claim 15,wherein said lens member is equipped with at least one guiding post on afront face thereof for coupling to another optical fiber connector.